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Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Phew! It’s been a busy few days for the Sea Champions team getting involved with the Great British Beach Clean all over the
UK. We’re going to be sharing all about how we got on over on the Marine Conservation Society facebook page but while we unpack the litter pickers and tally up the survey sheets we thought you might enjoy this story
from Sea Champion Kieran who tells us what it was like to run his first beach
clean.

"This weekend was the Great British Beach Clean and all
across the country, beach cleans have been taking place to raise awareness,
collect data and do something about the huge problem that is marine litter. As part of this nationwide effort I was organising a beach
clean at Bovisand in southern Devon. In the build up to the event I was a bit
nervous. I had only recently became a Sea Champion, this was my first time
organising a beach clean and I was a bit worried that something might go wrong,
or that people wouldn't turn up!

Luckily on the Saturday the weather was incredible with
clear skies and hot sun. Jules (the Sea Champions Volunteer Coordinator for the
South West), my friend Paul, a member of the public and I got cracking with
setting everything up: lugging all of the equipment down the hill and putting
up tables and banners.

Before long a small crowd gathered and Jules began with the
initial talk, telling people what the purpose of the clean was- that it was
part of a nationwide and global effort to clean up beaches and to collect
really useful data that can be used to inform policy on marine litter.
Information on how to use the recording form was also covered, before I added
some information on safety (helped by a man from the council who happened to be
passing at that exact moment).

After gearing everyone up and signing the appropriate forms, we got to work. The beach at Bovisand is cleaned relatively regularly, but even
so there was quite a lot of litter, this seemed to be in the form of lots of
little pieces rather than huge bulky bits. Gradually we worked our way across
the beach in small groups; scouring the sand and seaweed for litter. We could
have been there all day picking bits up!

Jules and I chatted to the volunteers and helped them
identify bits of litter. It is often difficult to identify bits of rubbish and
to understand the journey that it has taken to end up on the beach before you
pick it up. The group who turned up to the clean were a great mix of people of
different ages and backgrounds. This really helped when identifying different
pieces of litter as people had different areas of expertise and together
collectively we could identify more. One of the volunteers was a keen angler
and from speaking to him I learned a lot about angling and how to differentiate
between different types of line.

The beach clean seemed to go really quickly and everyone I
spoke to seemed to be having a good time. People were surprised by the amount
of plastic we kept finding and also seemed shocked when they found out that
something they had never thought of as being plastic actually was, this was the
case with polyester.

Interesting finds included; coconuts (we joked that they had
come all the way from a tropical island somewhere), small toys, Lego and
balloons; along with the usual’s such as packaging, bottle tops, fishing line
and rope. The most shocking thing we found were two hypodermic needles- which
could have been really dangerous, if someone stepped on them so we disposed of
these safely.

At the end we gathered everyone together, weighed the
rubbish and took some photos next to our filled bags – there were lots of
smiles.

Seeing the reactions from the people who took part and the
litter that we removed from the beach, was the ultimate feedback. It was nice
to do our bit to combat marine litter. It was definitely worth the effort and
planning I put in.

I would definitely organise a beach clean again!"

Thanks Kieran, splendid effort!

The Great British Beach Clean may be over for this year but there are always cleans going on so be sure to have a look at our Beachwatch pages to find one near you, or why not organise your own?

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

We are lucky to have three fab Volunteer Coordinators who
look after Sea Champions in Scotland, the South West and the South & South
of England and they do a splendid job. But sometimes we get approached by
people outside of those areas who want to help or by younger people (our current programme is for over 16s). What happens then?

Phoebe Harris (aged 13) was one of those people. She got in touch with
us in May wanting to join the Sea Champions programme but unfortunately as she
is under 16 we weren’t able to take her on. That didn’t deter Phoebe one bit.
We shared some other things that she could do and she jumped right in. Find out
what she got up to below.

"As I looked into the Marine
Conservation Society I really liked what they do and although I was a bit
gutted not to become a Sea Champion I thought it would be good to raise money
for them so I could be a part of their great work. When I found out about what
a Big Blue Day was I knew that it would a great experience and something
to put on my CV.

Once my school told me I could do it
I decided that I was going to do a cake sale. I printed off posters and stuck
them around the school to let people know it was happening. Then the night
before the cake sale I baked a range of different cakes and biscuits, all with
something blue to represent Big Blue Day. I did get a few people to help me out
but I did most of the preparation myself.

On the day of my cake sale I brought
all my cakes in and set up the tables where it was going to take place and waited
for people to arrive. I felt the cake sale went very well and I'm very happy
with the £59.60 that I raised. I hope to do more fundraising in the future for the
Marine Conservation Society."

A huge
thanks Phoebe, we’re looking forward to welcoming you to Sea Champions in the
future!

If you’re interested in getting involved with MCS but aren't able to become a Sea Champion for whatever reason then have a look at our Get Involved page and be
sure to check out the Quick Actions.